As Australia gets ready for their first Test series in South Africa since the infamous incident in Cape Town in March 2018, former Australian coach Justin Langer has reignited the Sandpapergate controversy. Before the second day of the second Test match against South Africa, Justin Langer made remarks that rekindled controversy surrounding one of cricket’s most damaging scandals.
During his appearance on the In The Middle With Watto podcast, Langer presented a strong defense of the three suspended players. He maintained that Cameron Bancroft, David Warner, and Steve Smith had carried the load for both Australian cricket and the game worldwide. In my view, Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft took one for cricket players worldwide in addition to the Australian team. Langer stated on the podcast, “And what I mean by that is that since that day, the ball has not reversed swung anywhere in the world, including both teams in the first two test matches.
Justin Langer’s main argument was that reverse swing, which dominated Test cricket prior to 2018, had significantly decreased as a result of the controversy. Cricket analysis indicates that although reverse swing has been seen occasionally in Test cricket since 2018, its frequency and prominence as a major talking point have significantly decreased.
Justin Langer calls the documentary from South Africa “smug.”
Justin Langer also criticized South Africa harshly, saying that a documentary that was made public after the event focused especially on Smith and Warner. He expressed visceral discomfort while watching the documentary, describing it as extremely smug. And Freddie Flintoff, the prime minister at the time, was pounding his chest. I wrote this as well.
About a year after I started coaching the Australian team, I watched a really arrogant documentary produced by the South Africans that featured Steve Smith’s stuff and made me want to throw up the entire time. He continued, “I was in England when Steve Smith and David Warner returned for the World Cup, and the way they were treated was abhorrent—literally the worst adult human behavior I’ve ever witnessed.”
Justin Langer described Smith and Warner’s treatment in England as “abhorrent, literally as bad adult human behavior I’ve ever seen.”
Justin Langer also mentioned the 2018 defense of Smith and Australia by former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff. Flintoff contended that the criticism aimed at Australia was hypocritical, implying that ball-tampering had been a common practice in cricket for many years in other countries. That’s why I got sick. However, at the time, Andrew Flintoff summed everything up. Three words, “those in glass houses,” were uttered by Andrew Flintoff while everyone was throwing everything at Australia. Since then, Ball’s swing has not reversed,” Langer stated.
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During a Test match in Cape Town in March 2018, Cameron Bancroft was caught by television cameras roughing up the ball with sandpaper concealed in his pants. This incident was known as Sandpapergate. Three players received lengthy suspensions as a result of the controversy, and Darren Lehmann resigned as Australia’s head coach. Langer then took over.
